"Terrorist" Shooting on Champs Elysees in Paris; One Policeman Dead, One Terrorist Dead
Update: Two or More Terrorists Might Be Involved
Update: Hollande "Convinced" It Was a Terrorist Act

Update: ISIS claims responsibility (or admits guilt, as someone suggested we change the formulation to a long time ago), according to @Le_Parisien.

Update:

"Hollande 'convinced' the trail [leads to] terrorist organization"

Update: A wanted poster goes out for another recent arrival in France.

"ATTACK ON THE CHAMPS [Elysees]
URGENT -- POLICE SEEK ##YoussoufElOsri, arrived from Belgium on the Thalys [train]"

This fresh terrorist shooting is going to knock the media's non-coverage of the Fresno terrorist shooting right off of the bottom of page D23.

I lied. The Fresno shooting isn't on D23 either.

More details to come as the media buries them and teams of forensic news archeologists sift through the artifacts of this soon-to-be buried non-event.

Tweet from a Witness: "#ChampsElysees. Témoin. J'ai vu de loin 1homme sortir d'1voiture et tirer rafale sur #policiers en stationnement. Il les a visé deliberement"

#ChampsElysees. Witness. I saw from some distance one man exit from a car and rapidly fire on policemen [parked in a car on the avenue]. He targeted them deliberately.

More: From TV5Monde.

A shooting took place in the evening this Thursday April 20th on the Champs-Elysees, one policeman has been killed, another gravely wounded. One assailant has been shot down, according to the prefecture of police.

...

The attacker was "shot down," relayed the Interior Minister. One source judiciare [I think this refers to the Police Judiciare, the main city police, not judges] confirmed the death of the attacker.

Two attackers could be involved.

(See later story -- this seems much more of a "might, maybe, let's just be safe" kind of thing than a true suspicion of the police.)

The prefecture of police in Paris urged avoiding the area. The Champs-Elysees metro stations are closed. The perimeter is secured/barred by law enforcement.

According to the first reports, a vehicle was driven towards a police car parked on the avenue, one person in the car opened fire at the police.

More: Two others wounded as well, not just one.

Piere-Henry Brandet, spokesman of the Interior Ministry, put forth the unfolding facts from the Champs-Elysees where he found himself. A little before 9pm local time, at 102 Champs Elysees [the address]. A vehicle stopped in front of a police car, with some cops inside and others engaged in protecting the sidewalk. The attacker got out of the car and immediately opened fire. He opened fire in mortally wounding a policemanof the prefecture of police. He then fled on foot, wounding two others, and their colleagues returned fire, killing the attacker.

"The police were from the start deliberately targeted," he added, quickly assuring that there was not a second policeman killed.

"The identity of the attacker has not been established in a clear or precise manner. We cannot exclude the possibility that he might have had one or more accomplices who could have participated in one way or the other in this attack," he then said, adding that "no other incident like this should be happening tonight in Paris."

So that guy seems less clear on the possibility of a second attacker, only acknowledging the possibility that there could be one or more accomplices. The other article also said there "might" be another accomplice, but I got the sense (which now seems wrong) they had in mind a driver and a shooter. But with this guy fleeing on foot, doesn't seem like I was right in picking up on that idea.

This sounds like the bases-covering stuff we hear in the US that there might be additional active shooters, but it almost always turns out it was just the one asshole.

Sorry to have trumpeted that.

Update: A tweet from AFP says that Fillon and Le Pen -- possible targets of the terror cell arrested Tuesday -- have cancelled their appearances tomorrow. Which is a big move, given that the actual vote (for the first round) is this weekend.

Below, Les Echos reporting that same thing, but with a picture of the Champs-Elysees on lockdown.

By the way, terrorists like going after brand-name targets that have something to do with the national identity. Champs-Elysees is one of Paris' most famous streets, and is named for the Greek Elysian Fields, where the honored dead of war go after death. The Arc de Triomph is at one end, and I think there's a major monument to veterans on it too.

Update: Two or More Terrorists Might Be Involved
Update: Hollande "Convinced" It Was a Terrorist Act&bodytext=Update: ISIS claims responsibility (or admits guilt, as someone suggested we change the formulation to a long time ago), according to @Le_Parisien. Update: Fusillade sur les Champs-Elysées : François Hollande « convaincu » que  « les pistes sont d’ordre terroriste » https://t.co/deG9OuxUtm— Le...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 04:21 PM

| Access Comments